Pacific waves crashed into caves as they have for thousands of years towards Cape Flattery, Washington. Outside the car, my mother and I, two city slickers, surrendered to the surrounding senses that enticed us down the trail. This was our final stretch to reaching the missing puzzle piece; piece of mind and peace within place. We found freedom on the most northwesterly edge of the contiguous United States.

Here I realize my worries worthless, a vanished weight. The same wind which wrote rough waves, moved like sea swept cursive over bonds, the chemical bonds that I am composed. Bold black pastel wings soared above, the eagle sung soprano to the sea.

Sensing of place leads to evolving with place. We are designed to thrive within the sensations of the natural world.  Rediscovery of my sense of place, and my sense of self presented itself in the palm of the Pacific Northwest.

My ears can still hear the echoing of the eagle off eroded rock. Here is where I decided to reroot myself and resonate with the rain. Defibrillation, this is the place that steadies my pulse, a place my steady heart calls home.

-Adrienne